I just got a call from EB (where I have HL2 preordered) and the guy told me they have it in and it's ready for me to come pick up. I just about jumped out of my seat!!!

Problem is that I've already decided to cancel that preorder because I have that free copy from the promotional video card thing. So basically they get the darn copy early for once in my life on a major release and I have to wait for Valve to unlock the game on steam for me!!!!!! :x

Anyway.... I hope this release day breakage expands widely so that Valve will go ahead and unlock the game.

I just called back the original EB (that started all this) and pretended to be someone else:

They said release date is next week.

So it must have been a screw up by someone that worked there. In other words: they must have gotten their copies in and have to sit on them for 5 days.

This is the sort of thing that always royally ticks me off. If game stores get the game 5 days before the release...publishers should just let them start selling the damn thing. They coudl still have an official 'GRAND LAUNCH' or something on some day they pick out. It's rediculous!

Also: someone over on OO forums are reporting that they've found reports of people getting the game early but can't play it due to the Steam lock.... so you must be right LordEbonstone!

What about the 1000s of possible consumers who do not have internet access...are they just SOL, or are they going to have a toll-free hotline? If they don't have a hot-line, I foresee the BBB getting involved when said consumers aren't able to get a refund.

What about the 1000s of possible consumers who do not have internet access...are they just SOL, or are they going to have a toll-free hotline? If they don't have a hot-line, I foresee the BBB getting involved when said consumers aren't able to get a refund.

Valve has said all along that an internet connection is a game requirement. It's printed on the box.

What's gonna happen on the 16th when everybody and their brother tries to authenticate the game at the same time and crashes Valve's servers? I don't know about you, but when I pay cash money for a game, I expect to play it as soon as I get it home. I'm gonna be pretty goddam pissed off if I install the game Tuesday evening and can't play it because Valve's servers can't handle the load. MMORPGs are one thing. Single player games are quite another.

Logged

Gamertag = IkeVI KNOW DEEP IN MY NMIND THAT THIS DISGUSTING WEBSITE THAT IS OBIVOUSLY OPERATED BY HIGHSCHOOL DROPOUTS LIVING PURPOSELESS AND JOBLESS LIVES

What's gonna happen on the 16th when everybody and their brother tries to authenticate the game at the same time and crashes Valve's servers? I don't know about you, but when I pay cash money for a game, I expect to play it as soon as I get it home. I'm gonna be pretty goddam pissed off if I install the game Tuesday evening and can't play it because Valve's servers can't handle the load. MMORPGs are one thing. Single player games are quite another.

Well, the authentication itself shouldn't be a large file that needs to be sent, right? Assuming everyone has already done the preload. I'm hoping Valve's servers can handle it...

msduncan, you should try to find the person who said you can pick it up and then GO BUY IT! Then try to activate it and see if it works, if not return it as defective or call Valve and complain that there is no warning on the box saying it won't work until the 16th. See if you can get them to unlock it, then gloat all over the internet..

And bluefugue,(1) as it's being sold in stores, OBVIOUSLY not everyone has preloaded.(2) it doesn't matter how small the file is, Even if it's only 1K, that stilkl si abndwidth, and when you are talking MILLIONS hitting at a few moments within each other...

Seeing as Valve has never exactly run a Blizzard.net service, I don't see what experience they have with this massive an enterprise launch. At this point, I am really *expecting* a crash or glitch that massively gums ups the works in the 16th. I could be wrong though.

I hope that Valve has improved their service since they got completely slammed on the October 7/8/9 from the rush of Steam orders. If that is how the servers are going to be hit, then the 16th might be a looooooong day waiting for HL2.

The only thing that worries me is that this "smaller" hardcore group was able to bring the servers down on the opening day for Steam purchases. All the servers needed to do then was to run credit cards and decrypt CounterStrike files.

What happens if/when Valve goes out of business and I want to reinstall and play Half-Life 2?

You don't.

You have to break the law and dl a crack :roll: I really doubt valve is going to go out of business any time soon, but then i would have thought the same about microprose. Imagine if you couldn't play ufo:apocalypse since microprose's servers weren't up to unlock your copy (this is assuming you are willing to take the time to mess with your copy to get it working under xp which is a pain in the ass)... :shock:

Hell, even the publishers of the bgs are now gone so you can forget about those too if they used this system of protection :?